Brief explanation of project

Ms. Raquel Strauss worked with faculty and staff at Universidad del Valle de Orizaba (UniVO) in Mexico in summer 2009 to arrange a video conference on autism. The presenter, Dr. Thomas Layton, is the chair of the Communications Disorders department at NCCU and is an expert on autism spectrum disorders. More than 145 parents, physicians, rehabilitation workers and educators packed into a room on the campus of UniVO to see Dr. Layton and to ask him questions.

What made the event unique was the bilingual nature of the presentation. The presentation slides were created in English and Spanish, and the audio was translated into Spanish in real time by an interpreter at UniVO. Also, because the event was live using Skype, attendees in Mexico were able to ask Dr. Layton questions and get responses in real time.

The event was shown live on NCCU.edu, Durham cable channel 30 and a local television station in Orizaba, Mexico.

How did it work?

For more information on how everything came together, watch the video below. This presentation was recorded at the Center’s 10:40 at the Center series in 2009.